Jordan and Morrissey, ‘Asylum Rights and Seeking Refuge from homophobic and transphobic persecution’, 2011
- Category: Other
- Source: Other
- Subject: Sexual Orientation/Sexuality, Refugee/Asylum, Human Rights, LGBT+
- Place: Europe, Africa, Asia, Americas
- Year: 2011
- URL: https://www.ideas-idees.ca/blog/asylum-rights-and-seeking-refuge-homophobic-and-transphobic-persecution
Sharalyn Jordan and Christine Morrissey, ‘Asylum Rights and Seeking Refuge from homophobic and transphobic persecution’, Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, 17 November 2011
Abstract
This entry is part of the CFHSS’s VP Equity Issues series on issues related to LGBTQI2-S (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, questioning, intersex and Two-Spirited) peoples.
Currently no less than 76 countries criminalize same-sex sexual acts or gender variability. Many of these statutes can be traced to colonial imposition, specifically, the British penal code section 377. Direct criminalization and morality laws create the means for abuse of power by police and others in authority. Surveillance and threat is dispersed along networks of family, school and community. Homophobic and transphobic violence often occurs out of the public eye, and unlike war or larger conflicts, people experience this violence in relative isolation. In some cases, religious teachings and psychiatric diagnosis are used to shame and pathologize people who live transgressive sexualities or genders. Stigmatization as evil or mentally ill further isolates people.